Attorney Terminal Having Outline Preparation Capabilities For Managing Trial Proceedings

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides attorney terminals which operate using an outline for storing, associating and managing case evidence, case law and work product for a given lawsuit at issue. Accessed through attorney terminals, the outline is structured based on a hierarchical categorization of the lawsuit into the law and fact at issue. Associated with each categorization entry in the hierarchical outline are groupings of case law, case evidence, relevance and draft discovery information for rapid access by the attorney. Each categorization entry in the tailored outline provides instant access to case law via headnotes, treatise selections, seminal cases, and preset searches. The disclosed invention also automatically: 1) tracks the use of Exhibits in a proceeding; 2) generates draft portions of a pretrial order including jury instructions; and 3) generates time-lines for analysis and use during a proceeding. Draft interrogatories, document requests and deposition or trial questions are also provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Claim of Benefit Under 35 U.S.C.120

This application is a continuation-in-part application of pending U.S.application Ser. No. 08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett et al.(Attorney Docket No. P93-00).

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The descriptive matter of the above-referred to pending parent U.S.application Ser. No. 08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett et al.(Attorney Docket No. P93-00) is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety, and is made part of this application. Also incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety and made part of this application arepending U.S. applications by Bennett et al.:

-   -   1) Ser. No. 08/066,948, filed May 24, 1993, entitled “Audio and        Video Transcription System for Manipulating Real-Time        Testimony”; and    -   2) Ser. No. 08/065,132, filed May 20, 1993, entitled “Down-Line        Transcription System Having Context Sensitive Searching        Capability”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a down-line transcription system used byattorneys for reviewing real-time transcription during a proceeding suchas a trial or deposition; and, more particularly, it relates to a methodand apparatus for interactively preparing an outline for use during sucha proceeding based on case evidence and case law which may be locally orremotely located.

As is well known, legal proceedings such as a deposition or trialinvolve the participation of, among others, an examining attorney whoasks questions and a witness who must answer (“testify”) while underoath. To prepare for such proceedings, the examining attorney mustreview the applicable case law and the related case evidence. Theattorney also consults experts, clients and other associate attorneysregarding specific issues of law and fact as proves necessary. Duringhis investigation process the attorney takes notes, and makes copies ofdocuments and legal cases regarding everything at issue. Based on thesematerials, the attorney attempts to develop a strategy, constructs anoutline of possible lines of inquiry, drafts potential questions for thewitness and organizes relevant documentary evidence for use as exhibitsfor the proceeding. During the entire process, the examining attorneyattempts to anticipate all of the legal issues that might arise.

The entire preparation process often proves to be very time consumingand cyclical in nature. Every important fact uncovered leads to a newcase law search. Similarly, every new legal issue leads to a need foradditional facts that are found by conducting a case evidence search orare found by directly examining a witness. Because of this, leadattorneys on a case must be organized and skilled at memory recall.

The defending attorney must also attempt to understand the factual andlegal issues in the case via case law and case evidence searching andthrough conversations with the client, expert witnesses, other attorneysand, most importantly, the witness to be deposed. During the entireprocess, the defending attorney's goal is to anticipate the strengthsand weaknesses of the case and the factual evidence which may arise inthe proceeding. The defending attorney must be well versed in allcategories of the facts and law which might arise so as to be able toproperly defend the witness. The defending attorney takes notes duringhis pre-investigation process to prepare the witness for the proceeding.

However, neither the examining attorney nor the defending attorney cananticipate everything. Typically, in the midst of a proceeding, thewitness reveals something unexpected to one or both attorneys. Therevelation could involve a new area of law which the attorneys knowlittle if anything about. More often, the revelation suggests an unknownvariant in a known category of law. The revelation also creates a needfor additional documents for use during the proceeding to pursue the newissue. In all such situations, additional searching is needed. However,during the proceeding, because the attorneys do not have the luxury oftime, outlining, legal researching, and factual evidence retrieval proveto be an impossibility.

Additionally, the examining attorney generally takes notes (1) on alegal pad of paper, (2) directly on copies of potentially relevantdocuments identified for use in the deposition, and (3) on Post-it®brand notes which are associated with the documents and other materials.During the proceeding, the attorney attempts to recreate theassociations of the notes, the identified documents and draft questionswith legal inquiries into the different categories of law. Because ofdisorganization, the attorney is often unable to use a great deal of theprepared information.

In complex litigation, the problems facing the attorneys are compounded.Because the preparation process becomes a very time consuming task, thelead examining (and defending) attorney delegates the task to anassociate attorney on the case. The associate attorney, who often haslesser knowledge of the facts and law at issue, is faced with the taskof retrieving the important case law and evidence which will be relevantin the upcoming proceeding. Because of lesser knowledge andinexperience, the associate attorney either over prepares or elsecomplicates the matter by not culling out the appropriate law or facts.In addition, because the associate attorney must brief the lead attorneyduring a relatively short time period before the proceeding, the leadattorney cannot grasp all of what is attempted to be conveyed.Similarly, the associate attorney may convey a misconstruedunderstanding of the law and the evidence because of inexperience.Either way, the lead attorney often does not find out all he needs untilthe proceeding is underway.

In the midst of the proceeding, the examining attorney is alsoconfronted with the problem of recalling the testimony of formerwitnesses regarding the same subject matter now being addressed. Ifrecalled, the examining attorney may use the prior testimony to hisadvantage. Also, after the deposition, the attorney is faced with theproblem of reorganizing the materials in some type of saveable form forlater use when a similar witness is deposed.

Hence, it would be highly desirable to solve the foregoing variety ofproblems enumerated in preparing for legal proceedings such as adeposition or trial by guiding the attorney in the preparation processwhile associating all notes, documents and law into a workable formatwhich requires minimal attorney interaction during the proceeding.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus having interactive outlining capabilities based ontailorable, default outlines that provide immediate access to currentcase law, pre-typed tailorable and default questions while providing forassociation of case and witness specific notes, testimony, and othercase evidence.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for selecting a pre-typed outline based on categories orsubcategories of law, by providing for interactive queries based onspecific facts and law at issue in a given lawsuit.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for interactively selecting a pre-typed outline based oncategories or subcategories of law which contains tailored potentialquestions that may be further tailored for managing depositions, trialand case evidence, law and attorney work product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in atranscription network having an outline used by attorney terminals formanaging a lawsuit. The outline contains a plurality of categorizationentries related to issues in a specific lawsuit. At least one of theplurality of categorization entries relates to a first data item of caselaw information. Similarly, the outline comprises a second data item ofcase evidence information relating to at least one of the plurality ofcategorization entries. Other objects are also achieved with the outlineprovides for the association of the first and second data items.

Objects are also achieved in a method for preparing to take thetestimony of a witness including the steps of storing case evidence in adatabase, associating the evidence in the computer database with adeposition question or witness answer, and viewing this association. Inanother embodiment, associating the evidence includes associating theevidence in real time. In a further embodiment, case evidence includestestimony, pleadings, or documents, and the database includes either alocal or remote database.

Other objects are achieved in a method used by an attorney terminal fora given lawsuit which comprises the steps of accessing an outlinelibrary that includes a number of outline areas related to witnesstestimony, and selectively using at least one of the outline areas foruse in a given lawsuit.

In one embodiment, the method includes associating a plurality of presetexamination questions with at least one outline area and storing presetexamination questions in a database. In a further embodiment, the methodfurther includes the step of tailoring the stored examination questionso as to direct questions to a specific witness to be deposed. In yet afurther embodiment, the method includes retrieving the storedexamination questions during the examination of the witness in real timeby addressing the stored outline areas to automatically retrieveassociated questions.

Other objects and further aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent in view of the following detailed description and claims withreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is perspective view which illustrates an overall systemconfiguration in which attorney terminals operate in Outline, Pretrialand Timeline Modes to manage a lawsuit according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is perspective view which illustrates an overall systemconfiguration in which attorney terminals operate in Deposition andTrial Modes to manage a lawsuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed perspective view illustrating an attorney terminalin an Outline Mode configuration as used by an attorney to prepare for adeposition or trial proceeding according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 a is a diagram illustrating the hierarchical structure of theoutline library according to the present invention which isinteractively used by the attorney terminals to create a tailoredoutline for a given lawsuit.

FIG. 4 b is a detailed diagram illustrating the types and groupings ofinformation contained within each hierarchical category, subcategory,etc., of the outline library according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 c is a diagram illustrating an exemplary pointer structure underthe groupings in the tailored outline according to the present inventionwhich provides access to and association information for each data itemof the tailored outline.

FIG. 5 a is a detailed perspective view illustrating an attorneyterminal which provides a Roman numeric outline display of thecategories and subcategories contained in a tailored outline accordingto the present invention.

FIGS. 5 b-5 f are detailed perspective views of the attorney terminal ofFIG. 5 a which further illustrate how an attorney may move through,create, modify or otherwise use the hierarchical structure of thetailored outline according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 a is a detailed perspective view of an attorney terminal whichgraphically displays specific groupings of case law information undercertain subcategories of the outline library.

FIG. 6 b is a detailed perspective view of the attorney terminal of FIG.6 a which illustrates the use of an edit window to fully display,modify, or create case law grouping information such as a headnote whichis directly associated with a subcategory of the outline library.

FIGS. 7 a-7 c are detailed perspective views of an attorney terminaloperating in the outline mode which graphically displays groupings ofdraft questions under a marking subcategory in the outline library,wherein the draft questions are selected, modified or added for use in adeposition or trial proceeding.

FIG. 7 d is a detailed perspective view of an attorney terminaloperating in the deposition mode which illustrates the use of a draftquestion as the basis for an actual question asked during a depositionor trial proceeding.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the selection of categories,subcategories, etc., to be used during an upcoming deposition or trial,wherein, in view of the witness's anticipated knowledge, only thoseareas of the tailored outline considered pertinent are selected forlater access during the proceeding.

FIG. 9 is perspective view providing further detail of the systemconfiguration of attorney terminals operating in the evidence modeaccording to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views which illustrate overall systemconfigurations in which attorney terminals operate in various modes tomanage a lawsuit according to the present invention. In particular, FIG.1 is a perspective view of a system configuration in which a secondchair attorney prepares for a deposition or trial proceeding using anattorney terminal 21 which operates in an Outline Mode, Pretrial Mode,Timeline Mode and other modes.

Upon initiation of a new lawsuit, an attorney (generally the secondchair attorney on the case) uses the attorney terminal 21 in its OutlineMode to prepare for conducting the new lawsuit. First, the attorneygains access to an outline library 43, and interactively responds to aquery regarding: 1) the issues of law from the Complaint of the newlawsuit; 2) the State and/or Federal laws at issue; 3) the specificcourt involved; 4) the names of the parties; 5) the party represented;and 5) other specific factual information relevant given the law atissue. Thereafter, a second query interactively extracts information asto the Answer in the lawsuit, including all defenses and counterclaimsat issue. A third query captures information regarding defenses to anycounterclaims raised.

As an added advantage to the querying process, a plaintiff's attorneymay access the outline library 43 to interactively construct theComplaint. The information provided to construct the Complaint providesall of the lawsuit information needed in the first query, and,therefore, does not need to be asked again.

Similarly, a defending attorney might access the outline library 43 and,after responding to the first query using the Complaint, the defendingattorney might interactively construct the Answer in lieu of the secondquery. During the interaction, all possible legal defenses to thecharges in the Complaint aid the defending attorney in drafting theAnswer. To complete the Answer, the defending attorney may then addcounterclaims, if any, and selectively choose those defenses which areappropriate for the current lawsuit. Similarly, a Reply to thecounterclaims may be interactively prepared by the plaintiff's attorney.Moreover, headnotes, seminal cases, pre-typed searches, and commentsregarding each charge raised and all potential defenses thereto aid theattorneys in preparing the Complaint, Answer, or Reply.

From the queried information, the outline library 43 provides a tailoredoutline corresponding to the issues in the case for conducting andmanaging the lawsuit. Basically, the tailored outline provides ahierarchical structure for associating the law at issue, case evidence,and attorney work product so that the attorney can easily accessinformation retrieved from a variety of sources. At the root of thehierarchical structure, the outline provides all of the major categoriesof law and fact at issue in the lawsuit. Branches of the hierarchicalstructure, i.e., subcategories, sub-subcategories, etc., provide furtherand further levels of legal/factual detail regarding the majorcategories or subcategories.

Through the hierarchical structure of the outline, the attorney canrapidly access a desired grouping of evidence, law and work productpertaining to a solitary legal or factual issue. However, access is notthe only benefit. Additional benefits include ease of closing off anarea of inquiry. By closing off a subcategory, all of the further levelsbelow that subcategory (sub-subcategories, etc.) are closed off, rapidlyminimizing the size of the working outline. Moreover, the mere listingof all the potential areas of law provides the attorney with ahierarchical checklist, reminding the attorney of what law might be atissue. Other benefits enhance the attorney's ability to prepare for alegal proceeding by providing: 1) virtually instant legal overviews(headnotes) of the suggested categories and subcategories of law withouthaving to conduct a search; 3) immediate access to the burdens of proofrequired; 4) pre-typed legal search formulations for further legalinquiry via a case law library 63; 5) instant access to the seminal caseregarding the categories or subcategories; 6) pre-typed potentialquestions to be asked based on the current case and witness; 7)pre-typed potential interrogatories and document requests relating tothe categories or subcategories; 8) the ability to associate caseevidence, work product (notes, pleadings or portions thereof), orrelated communications with the categories or subcategories; 9)sequential and interactive guidance of the attorney through thehierarchical categorizations of law based on the attorney's response;and 10) where beneficial, suggestions of evidentiary searches and otherdiscovery tips such as, for example, pertinent local court discoveryrules.

On an ongoing basis, while in the Outline Mode, the attorney terminal21, such as might be used by a second chair attorney, utilizes theretrieved tailored outline to begin a second level of case specifictailoring governed by the discovery process. As further evidence isobtained through discovery, the attorney continues to pursue deeperlevels of some categories at issue, while closing off others.

To aid in the discovery process, the Outline Mode helps formulateinterrogatories, document requests, and questions for upcomingdepositions. To formulate document requests and interrogatories, theattorney first analyzes the categories, subcategories,sub-subcategories, etc., to become familiar with the potential issues inthe lawsuit through the headnotes provided, and begins to constructdocument requests and interrogatories from sample, partially-tailoredinterrogatories available at each level of hierarchy. Partial-tailoringautomatically occurs upon retrieval of the tailored outline from theoutline library 43 via the initial stage of querying by substitutingspecific lawsuit information where appropriate into the text of thesample document requests and interrogatories. Such tailoring minimizesthe attorney's need for further modification. Upon completing thetailoring process within the hierarchical structure, the attorneyterminal 21 extracts or “copies” all of the newly created documentrequests and interrogatories from the hierarchical structure and placesthem into draft discovery requests. After minimal further modification,the attorney is able to serve the requests on the opposing side.

The answers to the interrogatories are first placed into a case evidencelibrary 91. From there, the attorney terminal 21, if so directed,automatically compares and updates the draft interrogatories in thetailored outline with those actually served, and then directlyassociates the received answers into the outline. In particular, theterminal 21 parses a text file of the served interrogatories into unitsof single interrogatories. Each of the served interrogatories are thencompared to each draft interrogatory on an ordered word by word basis.The draft interrogatory providing the best match is displayed by theattorney terminal 21 along with the corresponding served interrogatoryand a matching percentage (based on the number of matching words).Thereafter, the attorney terminal 21 prompts the attorney forverification. If the attorney verifies the match, the terminal 21replaces the draft interrogatory with the served interrogatory, andassociates the answer therewith. If the attorney does not detect amatch, the attorney terminal 21 can be directed to display the draftinterrogatory offering next best match. This process can continue untilverification is received. If at any point during the verificationprocess, however, the attorney detects that the served interrogatory hasbeen newly added outside of the tailored outline, the attorney terminal21 can be used to categorize that interrogatory within the appropriatehierarchical area(s) in the tailored outline. Once a draft interrogatoryhas been updated (or replaced) by a served interrogatory, it is takenout of consideration for further correspondence matching. Thus, theserved interrogatories can be interactively imported back into thehierarchical structure of the tailored outline. If, however, theattorney makes all modifications to the draft interrogatories directlywithin the tailored outline, the importation process occurs rapidly andaccurately to locate and associate the answers received.

After the importing process, the attorney is directed back through thehierarchical structure by the attorney terminal 21 to review the newlyreceived interrogatories. By doing so, the attorney may choose to closeoff additional categories or subcategories of inquiry, or pursue others.In many circumstances, supplemental interrogatories may be in orderafter reviewing the responses. In such circumstances, the attorney maydraft additional requests and, at some later time, extract the newlydrafted requests for service. Moreover, any type of discovery requestcan be periodically drafted whenever the need arises. At any time, theattorney may extract a collection of the draft discovery requests forreview, modification and service or use during a deposition or trialproceeding.

The attorney terminal 21 also automatically prepares draft documentrequests during a deposition or trial proceeding. For example, if duringa deposition the examining attorney asks opposing counsel to producedocuments which the witness has identified, the attorney terminal 21,monitoring the transcribed text, detects the question to the opposingcounsel, detects the use of the word “produce”, concludes that a formalrequest needs to be made, and prepares a draft document request based onthe interchange between the attorney and the opposing counsel.

If during the process of reviewing responses the attorney recognizesthat an unanticipated area of law might be at issue, the attorney merelygains access to the outline library 43, enters the unanticipated area oflaw, and the attorney's tailored outline is updated to include all ofthe categories and subcategories and related information regarding theunanticipated area of law for review.

Depending on the lawsuit budget and the number of items anticipated, thedocuments and things produced may be entered into the case evidencelibrary in a variety of ways. Where possible, all documents received areimmediately scanned and converted to text via an optical characterrecognition (“OCR”) process. The scanned documents and the correspondingtext are stored in the case evidence library 91. Summaries describingthe “things” produced are also added to the library 91. In alternatesituations, only summaries for all of the documents and things receivedare loaded into the case evidence library 91. In yet other situations,only summaries or scanning is used for documents and things identifiedas being significant.

The attorney interacts with the documents and things received forannotation and association into the hierarchical structure of thetailored outline. If the documents have been scanned, the attorneyterminal 21 can be used to display all documents by Bates number forreview by the attorney. If the corresponding text of the documents hasbeen extracted, the attorney may search the corresponding text toidentify all documents which contain key words or names, for example.Doing so minimizes the quantity of documents that an attorney needs toreview for a specific purpose. Although all documents may be scanned andconverted, in many lawsuits, only specific documents may be scannedand/or converted. Summaries might also be used either as an annotationto scanned documents, or as a stand-alone index to the actual documentsvia the Bates numbers.

As each document is reviewed, the attorney may choose to add textualannotations thereto, and may also choose to associate documents with aspecific categorization entry in the tailored outline. Furthermore, theattorney may choose to directly associate the document with a pre-typedor actual deposition question, a specific case law headnote, a treatiseselection, or any other data stored within a given categorization entry.

To better automate the process of association, the attorney terminal 21directs the attorney through the draft document requests in thehierarchical structure of the tailored outline. From the draft documentrequests extracted, the attorney modifies and serves the documentrequests. In a process identical to that available for interrogatories,the attorney terminal 21 provides for interactive importation of theserved document requests into the tailored outline. Thereafter, on adocument request by document request basis, each Bates stamped documentproduced can be scanned and immediately associated with thecorresponding served document request in the hierarchical structure ofthe tailored outline. Thus, to review all documents relating, forexample, to an oral contract, the attorney first uses the terminal 21 toaccess the categorization entry corresponding to oral contracts withinthe tailored outline. Upon accessing the entry, all of the documentsstored therein (or associated therewith) can be directly accessed.Documents and things can also receive multiple associations undermultiple categorization entries as proves necessary. This isaccomplished using an associate/copy command sequence via the commandline 33. Similarly, associate/move or associate/delete command sequencescan be used to modify associations.

During the reviewing process, the attorney marks all significantdocuments, and may annotate the documents as needed with text or voice.In addition, during the process, additional discovery requests orunanticipated areas of law may come to light. The discovery requests maybe drafted and associated with specific documents and/or annotations forlater extraction for formal service. Any unanticipated areas of law canbe retrieved from the outline library 43 to supplement the tailorableoutline.

The tailored outline also provides sample draft deposition questionswithin each category or subcategory (i.e., each categorization entry) ofits hierarchical structure. The attorney can mark those which mightprove advantageous for potential modification and use during an upcomingdeposition or trial. If so desired, additional questions might also bedrafted within the hierarchical structure. To aid in this process andbecause of the diversity of the backgrounds of potential witnesses,different subcategory groupings of questions are provided for thedifferent types of witnesses. For example, technical questions might begrouped for technical witnesses being deposed which might be ignored fora non-technical witness. Similarly, questions for expert witnessextracting opinions might be appropriately grouped.

In addition, as described in more detail below, during a depositionwhile operating in the Deposition Mode, questions and answers areautomatically associated with the appropriate categories andsubcategories in the hierarchical structure, providing further groupingsof potential questions. Specific questions used during prior depositionscan thereafter be selected and possibly refined for use in an upcomingdeposition with a different witness.

Where appropriate, each category and subcategory of tailored outlineprovides instant access to headnotes, associated full text of seminalcases, and pre-typed search requests to supplement the attorney'sunderstanding of the specific law at issue. The outline library 43 drawsand updates such legal information via a case law library 63. At anytime during the lawsuit, the attorney may compare and update the legalinformation contained in the tailored outline via a comparison processwith the outline library 43 which is maintained as legally “current”.Any differences detected are flagged and sequentially presented to theattorney via the terminal 21 for immediate consideration of possibleimpacts on the ongoing lawsuit. The tailored outline is thereafterupdated to reflect the current state of the law.

Using the attorney terminal 21, the attorney can directly tap intofurther legal and evidentiary information of expert witnesses, associateattorneys and clients via communication over the link 23 withcorresponding terminals 3, 4 and 5. For example, while contemplating aspecific subcategory in the tailored outline, the attorney realizes thatthe client might possess needed factual information at issue. Instead ofcalling the client, the attorney types in a message, and associatestherewith any information grouped within that subcategory as deemednecessary to clarify the request. Such information might include thespecific discovery requests, documents, answers, etc., which raised theneed for the information. The message and associated information is thenforwarded to the client via the communication link 23 to the terminal 5.After reading the communication, the client responds via the link 23.Upon receipt of the response, the tailored outline automatically storesthe client's response within the hierarchical category from which therequest originated. In this way, further evidence or law can becollected to further tailor the outline.

Once discovery has been completed, the attorney uses the tailoredoutline to aid in the preparation of the pretrial order in a PretrialMode. First, in the Pretrial Mode, the terminal 21 automaticallygenerates a list of all Exhibits and other documents or things whichhave been marked as significant. This list provides the attorney with astarting point for identifying a list of Exhibits for trial. Using theterminal 21, the attorney can immediately access all annotations and thesubcategory or subcategories in which a potential Exhibit wasassociated. With such access, the attorney can readily determine whetherthe potential Exhibit should be removed from the list.

Similarly, designated deposition testimony may be easily identifiedwhile in the Pretrial Mode. Upon request, the terminal 21 automaticallyextracts all question and answer interchanges deemed during thedeposition proceeding to be important, i.e., through marking. Theterminal 21 displays all such important interchanges for review by theattorney to determine whether they might be useful at trial. All of theassociated annotations to the interchanges are also available to aid inthe determination.

The Pretrial Mode also provides for a draft set of jury instructions forthe Pretrial Order. Specifically, operating from the tailored outline,the attorney terminal 21 automatically generates a set of draft juryinstructions based on the categories and subcategories of law still atissue upon completion of the discovery process. Although the draft juryinstructions are preferably stored within the hierarchical structure ofthe tailored outline, they may be interactively retrieved using theoutline library 43.

The attorney terminal 21 also provides potential witness and expertwitness lists while in the Pretrial Mode. All parties which have beendeposed are immediately listed as potential candidates. Any party havingbeen deposed which is removed from a list, automatically cues theterminal 21 to designate the deposition in a list of depositions, orportions thereof, to be read in at the trial. To further aid theattorney, the terminal 21 identifies those portions of the designateddeposition transcripts which have been previously marked as significantas being the portions to be read into the record during the trial. Thewitness lists and designations, along with the other pretrialinformation generated, provide the attorney with a reasonable startingpoint when preparing the Pretrial Order.

At any time during the discovery process or thereafter, the attorneyterminal 21 may also be used in a Timeline Mode. In the Timeline Mode,the terminal 21 automatically searches through the evidence referencedin the tailored outline to identify dates and times, and then places thereferences in a chronological order for attorney review. As a default,only the documents and things and portions of the depositions that havebeen marked as significant are considered for the search. However, thescope of the search can be broadened or narrowed to encompass otherdocuments and the full transcripts of the proceedings.

The terminal 21 also provides for designation of a specific time framesearching restriction to limit the search to the time period of animportant event, for example. Similarly, to limit the scope of a search,only a single subcategory or group of subcategories can be chosen so asto confine the search to the evidence associated with thosesubcategories. Lexical searching can be combined with time linesearching to help focus the information retrieved.

Once a chronologically ordered time-line listing has been retrieved, theattorney terminal 21 provides for an interactive review of the evidenceassociated with each entry so that entries may be deleted or elsesummarized. Thereafter, the terminal 21 provides for the display andprintout of the summarized remaining entries in a graphical time-lineformat.

FIG. 2 is perspective view of a system configuration in which first andsecond chair attorneys utilize the information obtained from thetailored outline in the Outline Mode to conduct a deposition or trialproceeding, while operating attorney terminals 19 and 21 in a Depositionor Trial Mode. In the illustrated configuration, a computer aidedtranscription (“CAT”) system 11 provides real-time, down-linetranscription for down-line review by the attorney terminals 19 and 21.As questioning is conducted, the attorney terminals 19 and 21 operatewithin the hierarchical structure of the tailored outline so as toretrieve the transcript (the Q & A's), storing it into the hierarchicalstructure as the proceeding is taking place. Operation within thehierarchical structure occurs naturally because the attorneys use thehierarchical structure of the tailored outline as the basis forconducting the questioning. Moving through the structure may either bemanaged by the first or second chair attorneys.

As will suggest itself, the Deposition Mode need not be used toautomatically retrieve the transcript into the tailored outline.Instead, an attorney (or paralegal) may categorize the Q & A's(“questions and answers”) after the deposition has ended. The attorneymay also choose to only categorize those Q & A's believed to besignificant. This post-proceeding categorization process takes placedirectly via interactive review of the transcript while moving throughthe hierarchical structure of the tailored outline. As an intermediatestep, the attorney may manually mark-up the transcript, and have aparalegal perform the interactive post-proceeding categorization.

In one embodiment, deposition transcripts, annotations, scanneddocuments, etc., and other case evidence is stored in the case evidencelibrary 91. The supplemental library 92 stores draft discovery, juryinstructions, etc. Similarly, all case law, treatise selections, etc.,are stored in the case law library 63. The outline library 43 onlystores the hierarchical structure of the tailored outline which providespointers to and associations between the case law, case evidence andsupplemental information stored in respective libraries 63, 91 and 92.These libraries may be in entirely separate databases, or in allocatedportions of a single database. In an alternate embodiment, the tailoredoutline stores all of the case evidence, case law, and supplementalinformation directly into the hierarchical structure of the tailoredoutline.

Upon interacting with outline library 43, the attorney terminal 21 mayextract and store the tailored outline locally. However, the tailoredoutline may be fully stored and maintained by the outline library 43,alleviating the need for local maintenance.

Specifically, at a trial or deposition, a stenographic recorder 13converts key-strokes entered by a court reporter via a keyboard 15 intodigital codes. The digital codes are intended to correspond to the wordsspoken at the deposition or trial. The stenographic recorder 13communicates the key-stroke codes to the CAT system 11 via a link 17.Upon receipt, the CAT system 11 attempts to transcribe the key-strokecodes into the exact text of the words which were spoken to provide fora real-time textual display of the transcript. To do so, the CAT system11 communicates with a number of libraries, dictionary, index and tablesstored in a database 25. The CAT system 11 transmits the exact and,where necessary, phoneme text down-line to the attorney terminals 19 and21 via a communication link 23 for real-time review. Further detailregarding code-to-text conversion process and the down-line attorneyterminals can be found in the pending parent U.S. application Ser. No.08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, which is incorporated herein byreference.

In addition to the textual transcript which is generated, the CAT system11 also provides access to audio and video transcripts which may also befully or selectively associated into the hierarchical structure of thetailored outline. The CAT system 11 utilizes a tape recorder 8 and avideo camera 7 as a basis for creating the audio and video transcripts.Further detail regarding the creation and association of the audio andvideo transcripts can be found in pending U.S. application Ser. No.08/066,948, filed May 24, 1993, entitled “Audio and Video TranscriptionSystem for Manipulating Real-Time Testimony”, by Bennett et al., whichis incorporated herein by reference.

If unanticipated areas of law arise at a deposition when terminals 19,21 are in a Deposition Mode, the attorney terminals 19 or 21 may chooseto update the tailored outline and access the law via the outlinelibrary 43, or may choose a direct search via the case law library 63.The advantages of the former option include the associated retrieval ofnot only headnotes and seminal cases, but also the pre-typed questionsfor immediate use during the proceeding. Similarly, the case evidencelibrary 91 can be further searched during the proceeding as the needarises. Further detail regarding searching of the current transcript,case law library 63, and case evidence library 91 can be found inpending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/065,132, filed May 20, 1993,entitled “Down-Line Transcription System Having Context SensitiveSearching Capability”, by Bennett et al., which is incorporated hereinby reference.

While in the Deposition or Trial Mode, experts, other attorneys andclients may receive the transcripts down-line and/or may communicate tothe attorney terminals 19 and 21 via the terminals 3, 4, and 5 via thelink 23. During the proceeding while in the Deposition or Trial Modes,all such communications are directly associated into the hierarchicalstructure of the tailored outline as similarly occurs in the OutlineMode.

Referring to FIG. 3, in the Outline Mode, an outline window 41 iscreated which covers a substantial portion of a screen 27 of attorneyterminals such as the terminal 21. The attorney may build an outline 39entirely from scratch using a keyboard 29, a mouse 31, and a commandline 33. Basically, the building process involves listing each legal(and sometimes factual) category at issue and subcategories thereof intoa typical Roman numeric format of the outline 39. Thereafter, associatedwithin the hierarchical structure of the categories, pre-typed questionscan be added to prepare for a deposition or trial, legal research mightbe obtained from the case law library 63, specific documents might bescanned or summarized and associated therewith, etc., as describedabove.

Instead of starting completely from scratch, however, the attorney mightbegin the process by copying an outline or portions thereof from asimilar lawsuit. By copying, the attorney can quickly and easily makemodifications for the current lawsuit, while taking advantage of all ofthe legal information and work product contained therein.

In addition, the attorney can build the outline 39 as described abovethrough interactive session(s) with the outline library 43. The outlinelibrary 43 may be stored either remotely or locally.

Referring to FIG. 4a, the outline library 43 is hierarchicallystructured by category 45, subcategory 47, sub-subcategory 49, and soon. Broad areas of law provide the category 45 entries. Each category 45entry may be broken down into one or more subcategory 47 entries, eachof which in turn are broken down into one or more sub-subcategory 49entries, and so on. For example, the category 45 includes a patent lawentry 51. The patent law entry 51 is further broken down to subcategory47 entries of infringement 53, invalidity 55, laches 57, etc. Thesubcategory “invalidity” 55 is broken down into sub-subcategory 49entries of “best mode” 59 and enablement 60. Under each sub-subcategoryarea may be one or more sub-sub-subcategories, and so on. In some cases,the categories used in the outline may be a reference to an area ofevidentiary inquiry which is not an area of law. For example, thecategory 45 could contain an entry “Background” having subcategory 47entries for each witness or companies involved. Sub-subcategory 49entries could include “Educational History”, “Employment History”,“Company Origin”, etc.

Through the querying process between the attorney and the outlinelibrary 43, the attorney terminal 21 extracts a tailored outline foronly those category, subcategory, etc., entries with indicated relevancein the particular lawsuit at issue. For example, in a lawsuit involvinga patent count and an antitrust counterclaim, only the patent 51 andantitrust 50 entries in the category 45 would be included in thetailored outline. Moreover, in addition to selecting appropriatecategory 45 entries, the early query process also provides for automaticselection of the subcategory 47, sub-subcategory 49, etc., entries wherepossible.

Referring to FIG. 4 b, each entry in the outline library 43 contains ahierarchical framework of groupings of information for use by theattorney to manage a lawsuit. In particular, each category, subcategory,etc., entry, such as an entry 101, in the outline library 43 ishierarchically and directly associated with a relevance query grouping103, a case law grouping 105, a discovery grouping 107, and a caseevidence grouping 109. Where appropriate, the relevance query grouping103 contains library pointers to a variety of textual queries stored inthe supplemental library 92 that are used to determine whether aspecific entry, the entry 101, is relevant in the case at issue.

The case law grouping 105 provides the attorney with a concise overviewof the law at issue (i.e., the law listed in the entry 101). The caselaw grouping 105 consists of: 1) a headnote pointer structure 121, i.e.,pointers to headnotes stored within the supplemental library 92 whichprovide an overview of the law at issue and identifying the associatedburdens of proof; 2) a seminal case pointer structure 123, i.e.,pointers to a seminal case or cases regarding the entry 101 which arestored within the case law library 63; 3) a selected treatise sectionstructure 125, i.e., pointers to selections from respected treatisesregarding the entry 101 which are stored in the supplemental library 92;4) a preset search structure 127, i.e., pointers to a list of searchrequests stored in the supplemental library 92 which are designed, forexample, to retrieve the most recent relevant cases from the case lawlibrary 63 which relate to the entry 101; 5) a search context structure129, i.e., a pointer or pointers to search context information storedwithin the supplemental library 92 which, for example, provides defaultlog-in and library information for the case law library 63 to accelerateany searching conducted within the entry 101. If, however, the entry 101happens to be an evidentiary entry, the entire case law grouping 105 maybe empty. Where appropriate, prior to extracting the tailored outlinefrom the outline library 43, the case law information provided by thecase law grouping 105 receives specific tailoring to remove unnecessarydetails of case law which through the querying process prove to have norelevance in the specific lawsuit at issue.

Similarly, the discovery grouping 107 provides the attorney with a draftinterrogatory pointer structure 141, a draft document requests pointerstructure 143, and a draft question pointer structure 145 to access dataitems from the supplemental library 92 which the attorney may use toassist in the discovery process relating to the entry 101. Prior toextracting the tailored outline from the outline library 43, the draftdiscovery of the discovery grouping 107 receives specific tailoring byweaving the lawsuit specific information obtained through the queryingprocess into draft discovery, and by removing discovery determined bythe querying process to be irrelevant in the current lawsuit. Wherebeneficial, all of the draft discovery listings include tips and tacticsregarding the discovery process of the entry 101.

The case evidence grouping 109 provides empty pointer structures to dataitems which the attorney adds to the case evidence library 91 over theentire duration of the lawsuit. Specifically, for served interrogatoriesand responses thereto which relate to the entry 101, an interrogatorypointer structure 161 is provided. For the questions and correspondinganswers recorded during a deposition or trial relating to the entry 101,a Q&A pointer structure 163 is provided. Similarly, a document andthings pointer structure 165 is provided for storing pointers to theproduced documents and things relating to the entry 101. In addition,other pointer structures might also be included such as, for example, awork product pointer structure 167 (for pointing to annotations, notes,pleadings, etc.) and miscellaneous communications pointer structure 169(for pointing to communications received from experts, other attorneys,clients and the so called Artificial Intelligence routines of theattorney terminals).

Additional groupings such as a pretrial grouping 171 (which containspointers to a set of jury instructions 173) may also be provided by theoutline library 43. Moreover, other groupings might be added by theattorney manually. Groupings that the attorney decides are unnecessarymay be easily removed from the tailored outline upon extraction from theoutline library 43 or at any time thereafter. If the attorney laterdetermines that an unextracted or deleted grouping is needed, thetailored outline can be appropriately updated by interactivelyrevisiting the outline library 43. Because many lawsuits span a severalyear period, the attorney may also periodically revisit the outlinelibrary 43 to update the groupings and data items thereunder. Ofparticular significance here involves updating the case law grouping105. All of the specifics regarding the changes or additions made to thetailored outline can be reviewed interactively by the attorney as theupdate takes place, or after the update has been completed. The updatereview allows the attorney to consider the impact of the update changesand additions.

The outline library 43 also contains preset associations between thegroupings of the various categorization entries where appropriate toassist the attorney in evaluating the tailored outline which has beenextracted. For example, a specific draft interrogatory under onecategorization entry might have preset associations with a headnote fromthe same entry, and with a treatise selection from a differentcategorization entry. In this way, the attorney can quickly display thelegal basis behind the draft interrogatory. With the preset associationframework provided by the outline library 43, the attorney need onlycreate supplemental associations with specific case evidence, workproduct, etc., which comes to light during the lawsuit.

As previously articulated, although in the embodiment described inrelation to FIG. 4 b only structures of pointers to information areassociated with a given categorization entry, in an alternateembodiment, instead of pointer structures, the actual information isstored within the hierarchical structure of the tailored outline. Inaddition, the pointer structures are merely linked-lists of pointers;however, various other data structures for associating pointers mightalso be used.

Once a tailored outline with its associated information groupings isextracted from the outline library 43, the attorney might further tailorthe outline by: 1) manually adding new category, subcategory, etc.,entries; 2) adding to or modifying the contents of any of the groupingsprovided thereunder; 3) combining groupings or portions thereof; and 4)adding new groupings. Moreover, as previously stated, at anytimethereafter, the attorney may gain access to the outline library 43 toupdate or extract additional entries from the outline library 43 intothe attorney's tailored outline.

Specifically, if the tailored outline is to be stored and maintainedwithin the outline library 43, the extraction process involves thecopying of the selected hierarchy of the categorization entries (alongwith associated information groupings), i.e., the tailored outline, intoa working file stored within the outline library 43. Although notnecessary, at any time thereafter, the attorney may choose to down-loadthe tailored outline, or portions thereof, for separate storage andmaintenance. Alternatively, the extraction process might involve thedirect down-loading of those portions of the outline library 43 selectedas being part of the tailored outline. In such circumstances, permanentor intermediate storage and maintenance of the tailored outline withinthe outline library 43 would not be needed.

The attorney utilizes the tailored outline to begin filling the caseevidence grouping 109 of each entry 101 in the tailored outline. Forexample, scanned documents are first directly stored into the caseevidence library 91. Upon reviewing a given document, the attorney mayidentify an appropriate categorization entry 101, and store a pointer tothat document in the document and things pointer structure 165.

Concurrent with the filling process, the attorney marks evidence enteredas significant, annotates, and makes specific associations wherebeneficial. For example, during a deposition, the attorney may annotatea given answer, or, while reviewing documents, the attorney mightannotate a specific document. Annotations are stored in the caseevidence library 91 and pointed to via the set of work product pointers167.

Annotations are directly associated for example with a seminal case, aninterrogatory, or any other unit of data within the entry 101 groupings.Associations may also be made between any such elements of informationprovided by the various groupings under the entry 101. For example, anassociation might be created between a document pointed to by thepointer structure 165 and a headnote from the pointers structure 121, orbetween a Q&A in one deposition with a Q&A from another deposition viathe pointer structure 163.

FIG. 4 c is a diagram providing an exemplary illustration of the pointerstructures identified in FIG. 4 b. Specifically, a pointer structure 175(which is representative of any of the pointer structures of FIG. 4 b)provides direct indexing of all data items within a specific groupingarea, and indirect indexing of all associated data items. A pointertable 177 provides the basis for the indexing. The pointer table 177contains entries for every data item contained within the specificgrouping. For example, if the pointer structure 175 happened to be theheadnote pointer structure 121 (FIG. 4 b), each entry into the table 177would correspond to a particular headnote associated with thecategorization entry 101 (FIG. 4 b).

Each entry in the table 177 consists of two fields: 1) a data itempointers field 179—each field entry for storing a pointer to a singledata item, such as a data item 185, associated with the specificgrouping; and 2) an association stack pointers field 181—each fieldentry storing a pointer to an association stack, such as an associationstack 189. For example, if the pointer structure 175 happened to be theheadnote pointer structure 121 (FIG. 4 b), pointers to the text of eachheadnote would be stored in the data item pointers fields 179. A dataitem 185, i.e., in this example a single headnote, can be easily locatedvia a pointer stored in an entry 183 of the fields 179. Similarly, toidentify all associations made with the data item 185, a correspondingentry 187 provides a pointer to the association stack 189 which, inturn, provides a list of pointers each of which point to an associateddata item. For example a pointer entry 191 stores a pointer which pointsto a data item 193 which has been associated with the data item 185.

When a new data item is added under a given grouping, a new entry isadded to the table 177. If no associations exist to the data item, thenewly added association stack pointers field 181 contains no pointer toan association stack. When an association is made, a new associationstack is created with a single entry which contains a pointer to theassociation, and the pointer to the association stack is placed in thenewly added association stack pointers field 181. In addition, the sameprocess occurs for the data item being associated. For example, althoughnot shown, wherever the data item 193 is directly referenced, anassociation stack will be created (or added to) to include anassociation to the data item 185.

FIG. 5 a is a detailed perspective view illustrating an attorneyterminal which provides a Roman numeric outline display of thecategories and subcategories contained in a tailored outline accordingto the present invention. As previously described, the tailored outline39 might have: 1) originated in whole or in part from the outlinelibrary 43; 2) been copied from another lawsuit; or 3) created manuallyin whole or in part.

To move through the tailored outline 39 using the Roman numeric display,a single click (button selection) of the mouse 31 of a “Patent Law”category entry 201 causes a deeper level of the hierarchical structure,i.e., the subcategories A-H, to either appear if they are not currentlybeing displayed, or disappear if they are being displayed. In otherwords, the single clicking of the mouse 31 acts to expand or collapse abranch in the hierarchical structure of the tailored outline 39.Similarly, the attorney may expand or collapse any categorization levelin the tailored outline 39. For example, referring to FIG. 5 b, theattorney single clicks on the “Invalidity” subcategory entry 203, andthe sub-subcategories 1-2 appear. Single clicking on the entry 203 asecond time would likewise collapse the tailored outline back to thelevel shown in FIG. 5 a.

While using the Roman numeric display, the information contained withinany category, subcategory, etc., in the tailored outline 39 can beaccessed by “double clicking” the mouse 31, i.e., two sequential buttonselections of the desired category, subcategory, etc. After doubleclicking, the screen 23 displays the underlying groupings of theselection as illustrated in FIG. 5 c. FIG. 5 c also illustrates the useof the single mouse clicking to expand the Case Law grouping to revealthe types of data A-E contained therein. By double clicking on any ofthe types of data A-E, a stack window 211, for summarily (one line perentry) displaying all of the items of the selected type of data, and anedit window 213, for fully displaying a selected item and providing fullediting capability therefor, are opened as is illustrated in FIG. 5 d.In particular, upon selecting the “Headnote” type of data 205 (FIG. 5c), the stack window 211 displays a stacked listing of single sentencesummaries of each headnote (HN), such as headnotes 221, 223, 225 and 227in FIG. 5 d, pointed to within the specifically selected categorizationentry (i.e., category, subcategory, sub-subcategory, etc.).

Upon double clicking the mouse 31 a given entry in the stack window 211,the edit window 213 opens to display (and editing) of the full text ofthe headnote (FIG. 5 d). Additional headnotes may be added via thecommand line 33 and the edit window 213. Headnotes might also bemodified or deleted via the edit window 213. Headnotes determined tohave particular significance might also be marked, annotated, orassociated with any other data item or items within the tailoredoutline. All associations between data items stored in the libraries 63,91 and 92 are actually associations between pointers to those dataitems. The tailored outline contains the pointer associations within thehierarchy of the pointer structures.

In downloading the tailored outline (or portions thereof) to theattorney terminals, the attorney has several choices. The attorney maychoose to down-load only the pointers and structure of the tailoredoutline without the actual data items within the libraries 63, 91 and92. Specific access to the actual data items stored in the libraries 63,91 or 92 would be managed via the link 23. Alternatively, the atattorney may choose to also down-load all of the case evidence library91, and all of the related case law and supplemental data items from thelibraries 63 and 92. Instead of down-loading all data items, however,the attorney might only down-load the data items currently consideredrelevant, for example, in an upcoming deposition.

In order to delete from the hierarchical structure of the tailoredoutline 39, the attorney need only single click the mouse 31 to identifythe categorization entry to be deleted, and then select a delete commandfrom the command line 33. Deleting the categorization entry also causesall deeper levels in the hierarchical structure to be deleted. In otherwords, deleting a category results in the deletion of correspondingsubcategories, sub-subcategories, sub-sub-subcategories, and so on. Inthis way, the attorney can quickly and easily close off all branches inthe hierarchy of the tailored outline 39.

Instead of deleting an entire branch, however, the attorney might chooseto only delete a specific grouping or one type of data containedtherein. Following the same process as before, the attorney merelyselects a group or a type of data and the delete command from thecommand line 33.

As previously described, at any time, the attorney may revisit theoutline library 43 to add to the tailored outline 39. Manual additionsmight also be made. To do so, the attorney enters an outline edit modevia the command line 33, and then manually edits the displayed tailoredoutline as desired. By double clicking on a newly added categorizationentry, a display such as is shown in FIG. 5 c appears which providesaccess to the edit window 213 illustrated in FIG. 5 d for addingspecific data items under the types of data provided.

To aid the attorney in identifying whether a sub-level in the hierarchyexists for a given categorization entry, italics are used to illustratea dead-end. For example, referring back to FIG. 5 b, if the “Laches”entry labelled “C” had no further sub-levels of categorizationthereunder, the entry would appear as “Laches”, i.e., in italicssimilarly, to indicate that a categorization entry has no groupings ofdata thereunder, an underline is provided. Italics are also used toindicate that a grouping of data (FIG. 5 c) has no data itemsthereunder, i.e., the pointer structures contain no entries. Both theitalics and underline aid the attorney in parsing through, modifying orotherwise constructing the tailored outline 39.

Instead of using the interactive process, the attorney might request aprintout of the entire outline or portion thereof, and redline theprintout to eliminate or add to the tailored outline. The redlinedversion can be given to a paralegal or secretary who makes themodifications in the manner discussed above. Once the tailored outlinehas been completed, the entire contents of the tailored outline 39 canalso be printed out in outline form for record keeping or to provide formanual access.

FIGS. 5 e and 5 f more clearly illustrate the association and annotationprocess. FIG. 5 e provides a perspective view of an exemplary situationunder which an attorney might desire to associate data items within thehierarchical structure of the tailored outline. Specifically, forexample, during the review of scanned documents via the window 214, theattorney identifies a document 232 which tips off the attorney that thelegal issue of marking might be involved. The attorney directs theattorney terminal 21 to display the marking headnotes, such as theheadnote 221, in the window 211. This direction may occur through theRoman numeric outline as described above, or via a more graphicaldisplay mode illustrated and described in detail below.

After reviewing the headnotes, the attorney decides to generallyassociate the document 232 into the evidence grouping of the markingcategorization entry, and to specifically associate the document 232with the headnote 221. To accomplish this, the attorney merely selectsan associate command 34 from the command line 33. Upon selecting theassociate command 34, the association is indicated visually with an “@”character 222 placed in front of both the document 232 and the headnote221. A pointer to the document is stored into the tailored outline(i.e., into the document and things pointer structure 165), and anassociation is made (as described in relation to FIG. 4 c) with both thedocument 232 and the headnote 221.

After associating two data items, if only one of the data items iscurrently being displayed, the other can easily be accessed anddisplayed. For example, when the attorney terminal 21 displays only theheadnote 221, the attorney need only select a display associationcommand (not shown) from the command line 33 to cause the associateddocument, in this situation the document 232, to be located anddisplayed. To view multiple associations, the window 211 displays astack of all associated data items pointed to by a particularassociation stack, such as the association stack 189 (FIG. 4 c). Throughthe window 211, the attorney may pick and choose those associated dataitems for full display by double clicking the mouse 31 on a selection.

FIG. 5 f provides a perspective view of an exemplary situation underwhich an attorney might desire to annotate data items within thehierarchical structure of the tailored outline. As in the previousexample, while reviewing scanned documents, the attorney encounters thedocument 232, and decides that a textual annotation is needed. Theattorney adds the textual annotation via the window 234 by selecting anannotate command 36 from the command line 33. The window 234 appears andallows the attorney to type, store and directly associate theillustrated annotation. An annotation is merely a note that is directlyassociated with a data item. Therefore, once created, all annotationsare treated as any other data item having an association. In addition totextual data items, audio and video data items are also supported.

Although the Roman numeric display provided by the attorney terminalsprovides relatively simple access to all items of all of the types ofdata contained within the tailored outline 39, in many situations, amore selective graphical approach is preferred. FIGS. 6 a, 6 b, 7 a and7 b illustrate the basic functionality of the graphical display of thetailored outline 39, which proves useful in situations where repeatedaccess to specific groupings of data is common. FIG. 8 illustrates theuse of selective marking of the outline library 43 of categorizationentries and data contained therein. Selective marking provides forcorresponding selective display of the outline library 43. Combining thegraphical display with selective marking provides the attorney witheasier access to only the pertinent information within the tailoredoutline 43.

Specifically, FIG. 6 a is a detailed perspective view of an attorneyterminal which graphically displays specific groupings of case lawinformation under certain subcategories of the outline library. In agraphical display mode, the attorney terminal screen is sectioned intothree areas: 1) the command line 33; 2) a graphical display window 253;and 3) a stack window 254. The graphical display window 253 provides twolevels of hierarchical display of categorization entries. For example,on an upper level 255, the category “Patent Law” is displayed. Below thePatent Law category, on a lower level 257, the subcategories“Invalidity”, “Laches”, “Ownership” and “Marking” are displayed.

To select other categorizations on the same level not currentlydisplayed, slide bars 259 and 261 are provided. For example, to changeto the Antitrust category (not shown), the attorney uses the slide bar259 to step or scan through all of the categories available in thetailored outline 39 to identify the Antitrust category entry. As theslide bar 259 is moved, the block at the level 255 displays the name ofeach newly selected category. The categories are arranged inalphabetical order, aiding the attorney in locating the desiredcategory. In addition, via double clicking on a slide bar button 260, adirect textual search for the desired categorization entry might also bemade.

Similarly, the attorney moves the slide bar 261 to step or parse throughan alphabetical listing of available subcategories at the lower level257 (although an alphabetized subcategory display is not shown to aid inthe labelling process of a Marking subcategory 263). A slide bar button262 also provides direct textual categorization searching, via a doubleclicking of the left button of the mouse 31.

To move up and down through the hierarchical structure, the attorneymerely selects and drags a block from one of the levels 255 or 257 tothe other. The graphical display window 253 responds by stepping up ordown through the hierarchy as directed. For example, if the attorneyselects and drags the Invalidity subcategory to the upper level 255, thegraphical window 253 would only display: 1) the Invalidity subcategoryin place of the Patent Law category at the upper level 255; and 2) atthe lower level 257, the sub-subcategories of “Best Mode”, “Enablement”,etc.

To display the groupings, types of data, or specific items contained byany categorization entry, as with the Roman numeric display, theattorney merely double clicks the mouse 31 on the desired block ateither of the levels 255 or 257. Doing so causes that block to bedisplayed at the upper level 255, while the lower level 257 displays thegroupings of data. Double clicking on a specific grouping causes thatgrouping to move to the upper level 255 while displaying the types ofdata at the lower level 257. Thereafter, double clicking on a specifictype of data causes the stack window 254 to display the data itemslisted (i.e., pointed to) thereunder.

Alternately, to display groupings and items thereunder, a defaultconfiguration can be pre-selected via a display command 265 of thecommand line 33. Upon selecting the display command 265, a pull-downmenu appears which provides for the pre-selection of the variousgroupings for display. Checking a grouping causes a side pull-down menu267 to appear for pre-selection of the specific type of data to bedisplayed. Multiple groupings may be checked (pre-selected), andmultiple types of data may also be checked from each checked grouping.Once pre-selection has been completed, upon clicking the right button ofthe mouse 31 to identify a particular categorization entry, the items ofall of the pre-selected types of data from each pre-selected grouping ofthe categorization entry are displayed in the stack window 254.

For example, if an attorney preselects only the case law grouping andheadnotes (“notes”), seminal cases (“cases”), treatise selections(“treatise”) and preset searches and search context (“searches”), andthen selects the marking subcategory 263 with the right button of themouse 31, the stack window 254 displays headnotes 269 and 271, atreatise selection 273, and a seminal case 275.

Any of the entries in the stack window 254 can be selected, via a doubleclick of the mouse 31, for full display in the edit window illustratedin FIG. 6 b. As shown, the edit window 269 overlaps the stack window254, but might instead overlap the graphical window 253 or both,depending on the circumstances, to provide for the display of otherinformation. Similarly, after a categorization selection has been made,the attorney will generally close or hide the graphical display window253 to provide room for the display of other information.

The categorization entries available for display within the graphicaldisplay window 253 can be limited to only those entries marked aspertinent, as detailed below in reference to FIG. 8. Similarly, thosegroupings, types of data, and corresponding items which have been markedas pertinent can also be selectively displayed.

The pre-selection settings and the selective pertinence marking not onlyprovides for selective display of the tailored outline 39, but can alsobe used individually or in combination for limiting searching. Inparticular, upon selecting a search command from the command line 33, adefault configuration may be made or modified which limits searchingwithin the tailored outline 39 to areas which have been pre-selected.Similarly, a separate default configuration may also limit searching tothose categorization entries, groupings, types of data, and items whichhave been marked as pertinent.

FIG. 7 a is a detailed perspective view of an attorney terminal whichgraphically displays groupings of draft questions in the stack window254 from the marking subcategory 263, for use in a deposition or trialproceeding. In preparing for a deposition or trial, although the Romannumeric display might be used, the attorney uses the graphical displaywindow 253, stack window 254, and edit window 282 (FIG. 7 b) to gatherquestions for use during an upcoming deposition.

The attorney first uses the graphical window 253 to locate the desiredareas to be used based on the characteristics of the witness. An expertwitness, for example, might be able to testify regarding the technicaldetails of specific law or fact, while an eye witness might only offer apresent sense impression regarding other factual issues relating topossibly other areas of law. FIG. 8, described below, furtherillustrates the process of limiting the categorization entries for aspecific witness.

Once a categorization entry has been selected such as, for example, themarking subcategory 263, the attorney clicks the right button of themouse 31, to display the default settings of the display command 265. Inresponse, the stack window 254 displays the draft questions 281, 283,285 and 287 associated with the subcategory marking 263 for potentialuse during the deposition or trial proceeding. As with all stack window254 displays, additional entries in the stack (i.e., additional draftquestions) can be accessed by a scrolling process.

By double clicking on a specific draft question such as the draftquestion 281, referring to FIG. 7 b, an edit window appears fordisplaying the full text of the draft question. In this form, theattorney may modify the question if so-desired via a variety of typicalediting commands available through the command line 33. The command line33 also provides for opening a clear edit window so that the attorneymay draft a question from scratch. In addition, specific documents, caselaw, etc., may be directly associated with draft questions for referenceduring the deposition. Thus, the attorney utilizes the attorney terminal21 in the outline mode to prepare for an upcoming deposition or trialproceeding.

Referring to FIG. 7 c, during the deposition or trial proceeding, theattorney terminals are used in the deposition mode to recall the draftquestions to aid the questioning process. To begin, the examiningattorney merely selects a categorization entry for conductingquestioning as previously described by locating and double clicking themouse 31. For example, double clicking on the marking entry 263 causesthe stack of draft questions to appear in the window 254. Thereafter,the attorney may use the draft questions and associations thereto in thequestioning process.

Upon completing all of the questioning under a given categorizationentry, the attorney merely locates and selects via the window 253another categorization entry to display other draft questions relatedthereto. This process continues until all questioning regarding allcategorization entries has been exhausted.

In addition to providing access to the corresponding draft questions,associations, case law and case evidence, the process of moving throughthe tailored outline while in the deposition mode also serves toautomatically categorize all actual questions and answers asked duringthe proceeding. For example, all Q&A's transcribed while under themarking categorization entry 263 are automatically added to the Q&Apointer structure 163 (FIGS. 4 b and 4 c).

The second chair attorney using the terminal 21 can also control thedisplay of the terminal 19 used by the first chair attorney. Forexample, the second chair (associate) examining attorney can stepthrough the hierarchical structure of the tailored outline instead ofthe first chair examining attorney while in the deposition mode. Ascategorization entries are selected, the draft Q&A's can be displayed onboth attorney terminals 19 and 21 under the control of the second chairattorney. Moreover, without controlling the first chair attorney'sdisplay, the second chair attorney can also transmit specific draftQ&A's as messages to the first chair examining attorney during theproceeding.

The examining attorney may also choose to only use the tailored outlinefor specific areas of the tailored outline, or for unanticipated areasof law that are uncovered and retrieved during the proceeding. As aresult, in such circumstances, automatic categorization is not used.After the proceeding, the attorneys (or their paralegals) may thenmanually categorize all of the Q&A's or only those Q&A's consideredsignificant.

FIG. 7 d is a perspective diagram of the attorney terminal 19 operatingin the deposition mode on a draft question retrieved from the tailoredoutline as illustrated in FIG. 7 a. By double clicking on a retrieveddraft question, the question 281, the edit window 282 enters an editmode to display the full text of the question 281 as shown. In atranscription window 295, the terminal 19 displays a question 291 and acorresponding answer 293 which constitute real-time transcriptionreceived from the CAT system 11 (FIG. 2). As can be appreciated from theillustration, the examining attorney may use draft questions, such asthe question 281, to directly formulate actual questions, such as thequestion 291, during the proceeding.

An attorney switches from the real-time transcription display (FIG. 7 d)to the tailored outline display (FIG. 7 a) as necessary to seek out anduse draft questions during a deposition. The command line 33 providesfor such switching between displays.

In addition, within the draft question, parenthesis are used to provideinstructions to help the attorney understand a draft question. Bracketsare used to indicate that further tailoring (modification) of thebracketed words might be in order. In addition, specific instructions or“tips” may be provided to instruct the user as to the formulation of aline of questioning.

Although not shown, the graphical display window also uses italics andunderlining convention established with the Roman numeric display.Italics are used to indicate categorization dead-ends, while underliningindicates that underlying grouping items do not exist. In addition, whenproviding only a selective display of the information marked aspertinent, the italics and underlying convention applies only to themarked information in the tailored outline 39. For example, if itemsexist but none are marked as pertinent under a given subcategory, thesubcategory will be displayed with an underline.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the selection of categories,subcategories, etc., to be used during an upcoming deposition or trial,wherein, in view of the witness's anticipated knowledge, only thoseareas of the tailored outline considered pertinent are selected forlater access during the proceeding. To select a section of the tailoredoutline 39 for inclusion in the deposition or trial proceeding, theattorney selects a pertinence mode from the command line 33, and scrollsthrough categorization entries to mark the desired entries via a singleclicking of the mouse 31. Single clicking also causes thesub-categorization levels to appear if they exist for a more specificselection. Moreover, single clicking the categorization entry a secondtime causes the sub-categorization levels to disappear from the display,and causes the categorization entry to be unmarked as not beingpertinent if no sub-categorization entry thereunder has been marked.

Double clicking of the mouse 31 acts to provide access to the underlyinggroupings as described in relation to FIG. 5 c above. These too may bemarked as pertinent, as can the underlying types of data and actual dataitems. However, if the groupings, types of data, and data items listedcontain no pertinence marking, all will be considered marked aspertinent if the corresponding categorization entry is marked.

For example, the attorney may believe that because the deponent was notworking at the plaintiff's company until a date after the assignmentdocument was executed, the deponent will probably have no knowledge ofan assignment. The attorney may then choose not to select “ownership”for selective display in the tailored outline for this particularwitness. It also may be that the attorney has elected not to challengeownership and therefore the ownership area is not included.

After selection, a bar background of a contrast color is placed aroundthe selected categorization entry such as entries 301, 303, 305 and 307.If the attorney changes his mind, a selection may be un-selected byplacing the cursor over the selection and again single clicking themouse 31.

In an identical process, all of the information contained within anyselected category, subcategory, etc., can be further screened tosimplify the use of the tailored outline for a given witness during thedeposition or trial proceeding. For example, specific draft questionscan be selected, while the other discovery groupings might be ignored.

Thus, only those categorization entries and underlying data itemsanticipated to be relevant for a given witness are marked as pertinentfor selective display and possibly selective searching during thedeposition or trial proceeding. The pertinence marking is saved in aconfiguration file under the witnesses last name for later loadingduring the deposition.

The pertinence marking process is also automatically applied while inthe Pretrial Mode to enumerate the documents and things, and thedeposition designations to be used at trial. In particular, concurrentwith the generation of the draft Exhibit and deposition designationslists, a pretrial configuration is generated which provides forselective display and searching of only those items selected in thePretrial Mode. The pretrial configuration may be directly used at trialor might be loaded as a starting point in the continued narrowing of thetailored outline 39 for trial. Similarly, an attorney might desire tohave specific pertinence selections stored for personal use outside ofthe trial or deposition context.

After the attorney has generated a witness specific pertinence markingconfiguration, the attorney can begin (or continue) to review andassociate the pertinent evidence and pertinent case law with thepertinent draft questions. Questions might also have been selected aspertinent from previous depositions for reuse. Conflicting answers toreused questions can then immediately be pointed out by the attorney onthe transcript record, forcing the witness to change his testimony orsay that the previous witness was wrong. In either case, the veracity ofone of the witnesses becomes a beneficial issue.

Typically, the attorney will have a paralegal prepare a witness kitwhich is merely a file and index of a copy of all documents which wereauthored by or addressed to the deponent. The attorney will review thedocuments in the witness kit for potential deposition exhibits as wellas for formulating potential questions to add to the outline 39. If suchdocuments have been scanned into the tailored outline 39, the witnesskit review may take place fully on the attorney terminal. Therein, theattorney's notes or annotations can be directly made and reviewed to thescanned image. Associating a scanned document image to a specificquestion or questions may provide the attorney with direct reference tothe basis for the inquiry, for example. Similarly, documents,annotations, questions, case law, etc., might be associated with acommunication from another terminal: 1) as illustrated in FIG. 2, tohelp guide the first chair attorney using the terminal 19 in conductingthe questioning; or 2) as illustrated in FIG. 1, to help clarify therequests for information or receipts thereof.

Furthermore, if during the attorney's review of the documentaryevidence, he wishes to review case law to understand the import of acertain document, the attorney may use the tailored outline 39 toretrieve the law.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view providing further detail of the systemconfiguration of attorney terminals operating in the Evidence Modeaccording to the present invention. In a trial or deposition proceeding,attorney terminals automatically track the status of the entry ofExhibits into the record.

Specifically, during a proceeding while in the Evidence Mode, theattorney terminal displays Exhibit entry information 321 in the stackwindow 254 while displaying the ongoing transcribed text of theproceeding in the transcription window 295. Each entry in the stackwindow 254 includes an indication of the exhibit number, date, time, anddescription of the results of the attempted entry.

When an attorney uses the term “Exhibit” during a deposition or attrial, the use of the word triggers an analysis of the status of thatExhibit number's use in the lawsuit, for example, as occurs in responseto a transcribed statement 331 from a moving attorney. If the use of anExhibit is detected, the attorney terminal compares the Exhibit numberto a list of Exhibits already entered into the record. This list iscontained in the chronologically ordered listing displayed in the stackwindow 321. If the Exhibit number already exists, the attorney terminal21 considers the use acceptable and continues the monitoring process.If, however, as illustrated, the Exhibit number does not exist, theattorney terminal 21 further analyzes the context of the usage todetermine whether a proper attempt has been made to enter the Exhibitinto the record, and, if so, whether objections were stated, and whetherthe attempt was successful.

To determine whether a proper attempt to enter the Exhibit has occurred,the attorney terminal analyzes the unit of speech containing the usageof the new Exhibit number, i.e., most likely the current question beingasked, to determine whether the attorney is attempting to enter theExhibit into the record. In FIG. 9, the unit of speech is thetranscribed statement 331. Specifically, the determination is made basedon the existence of key terms such as “mark” for a deposition proceedingand “move” for trial. If the use of the term “Exhibit” is determined tobe for an attempted entry into the record, the terminal 21 updates theExhibit list and displays a message to the attorney indicating that anew Exhibit has been added, for example, as illustrated by a new entry337. If the determination is incorrect, the message acts as a warning tothe attorney that an improper attempted entry of the Exhibit has beenmade. Similarly, if the determination is made that the new Exhibit hasbeen improperly used, i.e., without proper entry, the attorney terminal21 displays a warning message to that effect.

Upon determining that a proper attempt to enter an Exhibit has beenmade, the terminal 21 automatically evaluates the subsequent units ofspeech, i.e., transcribed speech units 333 and 335, to identify anyrelated objections, and, if so and at trial, to identify the judge'sruling upon identifying any objections raised, the attorney terminal 21adds the objections to the new entry, entry 337, in the Exhibit list. Ifthe judge makes a ruling, as is illustrated by the unit 335, that rulingis associated with the Exhibit list. The Exhibit list contained withinthe stack window 254 also automatically, directly associates thecorresponding exchanges between the parties and the judge, i.e., theunits 331, 333 and 335, for later review upon double clicking on any ofthe exhibit list entries, as with any stack window 254 entry, an editwindow (not shown) is used to provide for modifying the entry ifnecessary. In addition, upon clicking the right button of the mouse 31,the transcription window 295 automatically displays the associatedcorresponding exchanges.

In addition, it is also contemplated that the tailored outline 39 maydirectly store all lawsuit information including case evidence, case lawand work product. However, as FIGS. 4 b and 4 c illustrate, the tailoredoutline 39 merely points to the separate lawsuit information. Thetailored outline 39 and lawsuit information can be stored locally(within the attorney terminals), remotely (at possibly a dial-uplocation), or distributed between the two. Storage remotely carries theadvantage of creating a common access point for use by all of theattorneys on the lawsuit. A remote, common access point provides foreasier back-up and maintenance than that required in a distributedsystem. One drawback, however, is that the access may sometimes be slowor unavailable because of faulty or non-existent communication links. Toaccommodate such situations, the attorney terminals may use thepertinence selection process to extract for local storage portions ofthe remotely stored tailored outline 39 before going to a deposition.Upon returning, the newly added information in the extracted localportion of the tailored outline 39 is automatically extracted into theremote tailored outline 39 to bring it up-to-date.

In addition, as generally illustrated by FIGS. 7 a-c, any data itemscontained within the tailored outline can be used inside or outside of alegal proceeding. For example, by selecting a preset search request withthe corresponding search context from the pointer structures 127 and129, in a similar process as described in FIGS. 7 a-c, a search requestmay be executed immediately or after minor modification to performeither a boolean or natural language search on the case law library 63.Similarly, draft jury instructions might be accessed, displayed,modified, and printed for preparing a Pretrial Order.

During a proceeding, should a particular categorization entry not becontained in the selected tailored outline 39, the attorney may use anattorney terminal to access the outline library 43 to retrieve genericQ's, law, etc., during a deposition. For example, if during thedeposition the examining attorney asks:

Q78. Now what makes you think that my client copied your invention?

A78. Your client stole my product out of my engineering department.

The examining attorney immediately searches his brain for the law ofslander and libel. What does he need to prove? He may or may not know.The questioning continues:

Q79. Did you tell anyone about this?

A79. Yes, I told my sales force.

Q80. Did you tell your independent sales reps about this?

A80. Yes.

The examining attorney decides that he desires more testimony on thisissue in the next 5 minutes before the witness' counsel, the defendingattorney, walks the witness outside for counseling regarding the law.

While the first chair struggles for questions, the second chair attorneymay use the terminal 21 to quickly access the categorization entries inthe outline library 43 regarding the law of slander and libel. Instantaccess is provided to case law information, i.e., the types of datacontained under the case law grouping and to associated draft questionswhich may have been at least partially tailored to the lawsuit at issue.Thereafter, the second chair attorney may send the draft questions andcase law information in whole or in part to the first chair examiningattorney along the link 23 (FIG. 2). In addition, although not asdesirable, the first chair attorney may manage direct access to theoutline library 43 himself without assistance from the second chairattorney.

Although the second chair attorney is illustrated as being physicallylocated at the legal proceeding in FIG. 2, the second chair attorneymight also be remotely located. Similarly, any of the other attorneys,paralegals, experts, or clients might also step in to assist theattorney(s) during the deposition, these individuals being eitherlocally or remotely located.

Moreover, it is obvious that the embodiments of the present inventiondescribed hereinabove are merely illustrative and that othermodifications and adaptations may be made without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

1. In a computer network having an attorney terminal and an outlinelibrary, a method used by the attorney terminal for preparing forexamination of a witness in a legal proceeding comprising the steps of:providing access to an outline library comprised of a plurality ofcategorization entries; enabling selection of at least one of saidplurality of categorization entries; and providing access to theselected ones of said plurality of categorization entries during a legalproceeding. 2-5. (canceled)